Do you know signs of hypervigilance?

By DR. JOYCE BROTHERS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, August 15, 2006

It is helpful for people to be aware of their surroundings and keep their wits about them so as to avoid danger. But what happens when that awareness gets out of control and goes ballistic? What is normal when looking out for danger and providing security for ourselves, and how can we try to keep ourselves safe and sane? Take this quiz and see.

1. Hypervigilant people feel they have all the bases covered, so they sleep like a baby.

TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )

2. Increased arousal and hypervigilance don't usually occur out of the blue -- they are reactions to trauma.

3. The stress that causes a reaction of hyperarousal is most likely to be a natural disaster that we can do nothing to prevent.

TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )

4. Although they seem to have little in common, the person who won't sit with his back to the door in a restaurant, the lady who constantly wears a whistle around her neck and the person who jumps at every small noise are probably all suffering from the same thing.

TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )

5. You don't have to experience a trauma firsthand to suffer from symptoms afterward.

TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )

6. Hypervigilance not connected to trauma is easier to manage and extinguish.

TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )

ANSWERS:

1. FALSE. Since people with arousal disorders see danger everywhere and obsess about it constantly, there is likely to be little rest for them. They are more apt to be constantly busy handling perceived threats, and will usually have a difficult time getting to sleep or staying asleep because they know that losing consciousness by falling asleep will cause them to let down their guard.

2. TRUE. Most everyone has heard of post-traumatic stress disorder. This includes symptoms such as hypervigilance. PTSD follows a painful emotional experience or period, or a shock that affects the psychological development or well-being of the victim, and can cause long-term damage that makes the sufferer super-aware of dangers all around him.

3. FALSE. Actually, most studies indicate that the worst traumas associated with a post-trauma period are those that are man-made, as opposed to natural disasters. Particularly damaging are war, rape of women and the trauma experienced by survivors of the Holocaust. PTSD typically occurs in nearly 10 percent of the affected populations.

4. TRUE. Hypervigilance in regard to danger is likely to take several different forms; any one person might exhibit several of the symptoms or might experience only one. All of these situations point to an increased and constant awareness of potential danger on the part of the victim -- and the readiness for fight or flight, in which adrenaline is released into the body. People who lie awake at night are just as likely to be suffering from this problem as are those who carry guns and knives for protection against some potential attacker.

5. TRUE. People witnessing a bad car crash or seeing a bloody war battle on the TV cable news can actually experience enough trauma to upset their body's natural defense mechanisms. There has even been a study documenting the transmission of the trauma experienced by war victims and prisoners of war to their children through repeated storytelling about their wartime experiences.

6. TRUE. There is a form of hypervigilance today that has been created by national-security concerns and warning systems such as the color-coded alerts. When the public is constantly reminded of danger levels, it can create in some individuals, a syndrome of hypervigilance, where they see a terrorist around every corner. This kind of fear tends to be more transitory and easier to treat; as threat levels go down, so does the tendency toward this kind of hyperarousal.

If you were able to answer four of the six questions correctly, you are well-educated about this topic.